Looking forward to talking to David Driver on Drystone Radio this evening about all things ‘writerly’
Comments closedWritings and Poems
Author: Peter Kay
My virtual book signing event goes out on Thursday. This was created in lieu of the Book signing event in Huddersfield that had to be cancelled.
Comments closedI created a black out poem as part of an exercise within a Writing Group I am involved in.
I used Page 184 from SHOW ME THE WAY TO SANTIAGO and managed to create a Love Poem.
Here are the words that were left behind after blacking out most of the text.
Evening sun in
time envelopes us
She is spiritual
she is seeking some connection
our meeting is hugs and warm
we go our separate ways
Adverbially Challenged Volume 5 is now complete and will be published in November 2020, including my flash fiction piece – ‘Night Vision’
Comments closedI have just heard that my entry for the competition will be included in the Anthology that will be available before Christmas
Comments closedI thoroughly enjoyed a wonderful evening in the company of some wonderful poets and musicians. It was good to share two poems that connect me to the District and that celebrate the positive cultural diversity that is Bradford (The Lantern Parade and The Curry Place)
Comments closedI thoroughly enjoyed my return to ‘open mic’ land on Monday with the wonderful David Driver hosting an exclamation of local poets. Up coming this Saturday is an Open Mic with BIASAN, an event that is part of the Bradford South Asian Heritage Month.
Comments closedMy visit to W H Smith in Huddersfield (scheduled for Saturday 15th August) has had to be postponed. However, I am doing a live Q&A with my publisher on YouTube at 6pm on Monday 17th August – a kind of virtual book signing event – as an alternative.
Due to technical difficulties we have had to reschedule the live Q&A. This will now be available on the 27th August.
Details of my Interview with Alison Laycock, Book reviewer and blogger are now available on Booklovers.Home.Blog
The review itself should be available within the next ten days.
I have just ordered a 100 of these beautiful little bookmarks that complement well my book – Show Me The Way To Santiago
After a lot of agonising I have finally chosen the 12 images from my walking of the Via de La Plata that will form a calendar for 2021. All profits from the sales of the Calendar will go to the Motor Neurone Disease Association. I will provide an update once these are available
Comments closedPleased to be able to post that my Flash fiction (100 word) story called ‘Night Vision’ will be published in Adverbially Challenged Volume 5. It is story number 491 and once a further 9 stories have been accepted for publication, the book will be published. All profits go to FIRST STORY (Changing Lives through writing). FIRST STORY supports and inspires creativity, literacy and confidence in UK Secondary schools where over 50% of pupils are considered deprived. The Charity helps young people nurture and develop their creative writing skills.
Comments closedI have today had a one hour interview with CJLandry, who specialises in publicising and highlighting the work of independent authors working with/for IndiePublishing Companies, like CuriousCatBooks. The Interview will be made public on the 23rd November 2020. I will publish the links to this nearer the time.
Comments closedI have now sold 72 books across all platforms and once all income is received the total raised for the MND Association will top £400
2 CommentsMy interview with Dr Paul Reeves about my book SHOW ME THE WAY TO SANTIAGO is scheduled to be aired live today (26th June) at 4pm. It will be repeated at 10pm and again at 1am Saturday morning (if you are a night owl).
The link is http://www.impactradiousa.com
A useful day of action research yesterday, that will enable me to write the next Chapter of AVAC2C. Missing footpaths, attacked by cows, lost in a wood, negotiating the A19, an English Heritage site, a stile to nowhere, site of a castle, picnic by a babbling brook, losing a pen – just some of the adventures of the day
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Book sales of Show Me The Way To Santiago have been steady, but have now reached 50 in all formats/outlets and the amount raised for the MND Association has just passed the £300 mark. This is without being able to hold any of the planned book launch and/or book reading events.
Comments closedSo, you want to go back to normal when this is all over
Where our NHS is underfunded
And under-prepared for what is needed
You want a normality that sees
Key workers on zero hours contracts
Or paid the minimum wage
You want to take for granted
delivery drivers, supermarket staff,
Go about your business and leave
the homeless on the streets
You want to return to a normality
That bails out the banks, rewards the rich
Ignores the poor and vulnerable
You want a normality that protects privilege
And scorns those that don’t have it
A normality that castigates foreigner’s
All those people not born in the UK,
Who kept afloat the NHS, the care system,
picked the crops that would have rotted in our
fields, so that we could eat in our little castles
You’d prefer to go back to normal
Where staff who look after our elders
Are doing so without the
necessary equipment and support
You want a normality that sees
Traffic jams and saturated skies polluting our environment
And putting the very existence of our planet at risk
A normality where economic growth
Is the measure of progress and not
The health and well-being of our populations.
Do you really want to return to a normal
Predicated on the survival of the fittest
When what this has shown us is that
Collectively we are only as strong as our weakest
You want a normality of individuals scurrying
Like lemmings to keep up with the Jones’s
Not having time to dwell on the needs of others.
In their communities, their countries, their world
A normality where success is greed and power
The state is organised to protect such status, rather
than to care best for those who need its help most
So, be careful what you wish for when you say
“I just want things back to normal.”
Think carefully about what you really mean
Is it the freedom to go out, to socialise,
To meet a friend and give them a hug
The freedom to roam the countryside, wherever you please
To eat out, visit the local pub, watch your favourite team
Freedoms many normally just take for granted, and yet
For the weakest and less fortunate in the world
Such options are a normality only lived in dreams
And if, if, we go back to a normality that fails
To recognise our responsibilities to all citizens of the world
Then our children, and our children’s children
will never forgive us.
Peter Kay
First written 24th April 2020
A week on from my previous post ‘Steady Sales’, which recorded sales ten days after release, I can now update Sales information. I have sold 31 books, 4 have been sold via Amazon and 4 Kindle Books have been sold. Contributions to the MND Association have now passed £200.
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Mrs J A Ralph
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 April 2020
A great read to while away the long Lockdown days. Peter’s memoir takes you on a journey of discovery, which is scenic, spiritual, poignant and funny, (tears rolling down my eyes at the thought of two grown men tumbling down a hillside). It’s a story support and friendships new and old built up along the way. Thank you Peter for sharing your pilgrimage, it was a delight to read.
